Men's Basketball

MEN'S BASKETBALL: Cardinals win border battle

North Idaho College blew open a 39-37 halftime lead outscoring CC of Spokane 60-28 in the second half. The result was a 99-65 victory Wednesday night at the Walter S. Johnson Sports Center in Spokane.

Freshman guard Nate Pryor led 4 players in double figures with a career-high 31 points, 14 in the decisive second half. Sophomore guard RayQuan Evans recorded a double-double scoring 21 points and grabbing a game-high 12 rebounds. In all, the Cardinals outrebounded the Sasquatch 44-26. Jared Greene continues to blister the nets with 16 points, 10 in the second half. The sophomore post was 8 of 9 from the field to increase his NWAC-leading field goal shooting percentage to 75% to go along with 6 rebounds. The other Cardinal to hit double figures, freshman guard Phillip Malatare added 12 points, 10 in the final 20 minutes to go along with 5 steals, nearly half of the team’s 12 total.

Head coach Corey Symons gave credit to his team’s defense saying, “We know we can score but our defense really stepped it up in the second half. That was a big win.”

With the victory, the top-ranked Cardinals (18-2 overall,7-0 NWAC East) open a two-game lead in the loss column over the Sasquatch (15-6,6-2) in the NWAC’s Eastern Conference.

NIC is back in action Saturday afternoon as Yakima Valley College (5-14, 2-5) visits Christianson Gymnasium. The Women at 2pm, the Men at 4. If you can’t make it to the games check them out on our You Tube channel at www.nicathletics.com.